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Rods at the Ready for Special Schools Fishing Competition
Witherslack Hall School were the victors of this year’s inter school fishing competition for five North West special schools which took place at Borwick fishing lake near Carnforth. The event is now in its fifth year and was the idea of David Williams, a care worker from Witherslack Hall, Cumbria, which is a residential and day secondary special school for boys. Tina McIntosh, headteacher at Witherslack Hall said: “This competition gives young people an opportunity to represent their school in a sport which may not be given equal recognition with some of the more traditional team games. It helps to build self esteem and encourage those taking part to interact in a positive way with others.” Representatives from the Environment Agency were also on hand to coach the teams and offer prizes in a range of categories, including the person who caught the biggest fish. The schools taking part were Witherslack Hall, Cedar House and Cumberland Upper, which are all part of The Witherslack Group and Underley Hall and Wings. |
Witherslack Hall Achieves Gold
Witherslack Hall School has become the first independent residential special school in the country to be awarded the Team-Teach Gold Standard. Staff at Witherslack Hall School in Cumbria received the award which is one of the UK’s first accredited training frameworks specifically for professionals working with young people who display challenging behaviour. The Gold Standard Award recognises best practice in terms of policy and procedure. Tina McIntosh is Head Teacher at Witherslack Hall School, she said: “I am very proud of my staff who fully deserve this award and delighted that their dedication and professionalism is recognised in this way.” Robin Rhodes is Deputy Head Teacher and the first trainer of Team-Teach at Witherslack Hall School. He said: “We have been involved with Team Teach for more than nine years and have learnt such a lot about positive interactions between staff and pupils. The training has been invaluable and will serve our staff and pupils well for the years to come.” George Matthews is director and founder of Team Teach Ltd, he said: “I was highly impressed by the staff at Witherslack Hall School and the way in which they interacted with their pupils. The school makes outstanding provision for students’ health, welfare and safety.” Jim Bowers, proprietor and managing director of the Witherslack Group said: “This is the first school in the Group to be presented with the award and we hope it is the first of many. The Team-Teach approach is one which we are encouraging across our portfolio of schools and care homes.” |
Witherslack Hall Does its bit for Local Wildlife
Pupils from a special school in Grange-over-Sands have ‘boxed off’ a project with their local branch of The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Children from Witherslack Hall School have been working with the RSPB at Leighton Moss to create a range of nest boxes and homes for a variety of birds, bats, hedgehogs and insects as part of the charity’s ‘Homes for Wildlife’ programme. The pupils have now handed over these animal homes to the reserve and helped to site them with the help of their construction skills teacher, John Kneale-Jones and the lead field teacher, Maggy Lightfoot. John Kneale-Jones said: “The pupils at Witherslack Hall have been members of the ‘Wildlife Explorers’, the junior membership of the RSPB, for a number of years, so we have formed a fantastic working relationship with the staff at the reserve. “The pupils have learnt so much about the protection of wildlife and have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this project.” Maggy Lightfoot said: “The RSPB is trying to inspire people of all ages to make a real difference for the range of wildlife that share the open spaces closest to them. “The children have been a delight to work with and have helped us enormously. All the staff at Leighton Moss look forward to further projects with the school in the future.” Witherslack Hall School is a 38 week residential and day special school in Cumbria which caters for boys aged between 11 and 19 with complex learning needs and challenging behaviour. It is one of eight schools and four children’s homes run by The Witherslack Group, which offers education and residential care to children with special education needs. |
Work Experience
All Year 10 boys participated and were placed in businesses of their own choice. These included a catering department, animal husbandry and riding stables, maintenance work, builders, garage mechanics, body spray shops and many more . It has been a very successful experience for them learning new skills and building good working relationships. All reports from employers were excellent and every pupil should be proud of themselves.
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Outstanding Ofsted Evaluation
You will all have received a copy of the final published report which confirms that "Witherslack Hall fully meets its aims, meets all of the requirements for registration and provides outstanding education and boarding for students." We achieved the 'outstanding' judgement in every area of the school and I am especially proud of the boys achievements reflected by the 'outstanding' judgement about how well pupils make progress in their learning and the behaviour of pupils. Well done boys and staff. - T. McIntosh, Head Teacher |
Street Dancing
Street dancing is a new activity provided by school. A professional dance instructor attends school once a week to teach the boys the latest moves and styles in the world of street dance. Following T.V programmes such as “Got to Dance “and street dance group “Diversity” our boys have shown huge amounts of enthusiasm and commitment. |
Charity Fundraising Produces Fantastic Response
The fantastic response to our most recent fundraising efforts means the school has now purchased a full „Community First Responders‟ pack of emergency life support equipment. We set about raising funds in support of the Lyth Valley First Responders Group back in the spring of 2010. Staff and pupils have been involved in a variety of activities including raffles, coffee mornings and cake sales. We have made bird nest boxes to sell at school and in the Witherslack Community Shop, we recently spent an afternoon at our local Morrisons store packing bags, and we were well supported by parents and visitors to school, during our annual open day where we sold refreshments, bird nest boxes and bedding plants. |
